“This is a team that creates a lot, and you obviously have great management skills and they don’t make that many mistakes.” Unfortunately, Claude Julien was not referencing his boys in Black and Gold. But rather Boston’s opponent Thursday night – the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.

“They can certainly move the puck around, and they have some dangerous players out there that can make things happen out of very little,” Julien summed.

With three Cups in the past six seasons, the Blackhawks came to town after doing Boston a favor in dispensing Detroit on the road 24 hours earlier, 5-2. After adding former Hawks’ forward and Winnipeg captain Andrew Ladd and Montreal’s Dale Weise to the roster before the trade deadline, Chicago is poised for a repeat parade on the shore of Lake Michigan in June. They lead the Western Conference with 85 points.

Thursday night yet another opportunity with home games against Tampa Bay, Chicago and Washington on Saturday to measure the Black and Gold against the elite teams in each conference. Monday night, the Lightning had their way in a 4-1 win.

Both teams entered Thursday’s contest with comparable records over their past 10 games; Boston at 6-4; Chicago at 5-4-1. After Tuesday’s 2-1 tune-up win over Calgary, here’s what we learned as the Bruins continue a schedule of 10 of their next 14 on the road – 11 against current and likely playoff teams.

With a convincing 4-2 win over the Blackhawks, here’s what we learned in just Boston’s third victory against current playoff teams since the Winter Classic, and a historic win for Julien, who tied Art Ross for most behind the Bruins’ bench at 387.

Excuse me Darling

If the Bruins had one slight advantage at game time, it was Chicago going with backup and former Maine standout Scott Darling in net after Corey Crawford’s win Wednesday night. It only took 1:18 for Boston to exploit that when Patrice Bergeron swung the net off a Brad Marchand pass and took a bad-angle shot that squeezed by short side to Darling’s right.

With Noel Acciari in the box, Chicago’s NHL second-best power play went to work converting at 14:14 when Jonathan Toews took a Ladd pass and promptly beat Tuukka Rask with a 10-foot wrister to tie the game.

But Brad Marchand took advantage of a Hawks’ breakdown in the waning seconds when he sent a 30-foot wrist shot past Darling with 19 ticks left in the first period. Lee Stempniak was credited with his first point as a Bruin; it was Marchand’s 33rd goal of the season.

Bruins off and running

The Bruins eighth best power play in the league put Boston up 3-1 when Ryan Spooner’s shot found a clean route past Darling at 2:31. Torey Krug and Bergeron assisted. It was Bergeron’s 16th point in 13 career games vs. Chicago, and tied him with Terry O’Reilly for eighth place all-time with 606 points.

With Acciari’s second sentence to the penalty box expiring, David Krejci and Loui Eriksson broke out 2-on-2 with John-Michael Liles making it a 3-on-2. Liles shoveled a left-wing pass across that Eriksson deflected past Darling at 15:24 for the 4-1 lead into the third period. Liles assist was his first point in a black-and-gold uniform.

“Loui did a great job of driving the net,” Liles said. “So instead of looking for a guy trailing you want to try and put the puck for him to get a chance on net.”

The Bruins had lost only one game in their last 116 when leading by three or more goals.

Tomas Fleischmann kept the game close at 4-2 into the third period when he scored at 19:10.

“I thought from the first minute on, till the end of the game,” Bergeron said, “we were on our toes, limiting their transition game and their speed.”

Chicago big guns muzzled

The Bruins held Chicago to five shots on net in the first period.

Aside from Toews’ power-play goal, those “dangerous players” were kept quiet by Rask and Boston’s defense. Patrick Kane entered the game with a league-leading 37 goals and 51 assists for 88 points, ironically his jersey number. He would end the game with both intact after Boston’s defense shut him down along with sensational rookie Artemi Panarin (24-35-59) and Jonathan Toews (22-23-45). Add defensemen Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook to that equation with a combined 81 points.

“I thought we did a good job in the neutral zone,” Julien said about slowing down the Hawks’ attack mode. “They are a team that really gets some pretty good speed through the neutral zone and usually that’s where they do a lot of damage. I thought our checking game was probably one of the best so far.

“I think this was a team that we really needed to hard-match tonight. When you have the [Jonathan] Toews, you have the [Patrick] Kanes, you know, [Artem] Panarin, those guys that are scoring for them on different lines.”

Solid third for Rask

“The biggest thing is not to get comfortable right now,” Rask said postgame.

The 2014 Vezina winner entered the game with a 2-1-1 career mark against Chicago and a 1.71 GAA. He was not heavily tested Thursday night, stopping 25 of 27 total shots and 11 in the third with Darling pulled with three minutes left.

Tantamount to a three-minute power play amidst too many Bruins icings, Rask held serve in the 4-2 final.

“These guys get the puck, and they always look for that seam pass for one-timers and we didn’t get sucked in there – we stayed tight in the middle,” Rask said. “And everything was working.”

That home record

The win moved Boston to within one of .500 at home at 15-16-3. It also marked just second time this season the team has won two consecutive games at TD Garden. The only other time way back on November 19 and 21.

“I think the fact that [Chicago] made some trades, they really geared up for another Stanley Cup run, it was a good test for us,” Julien said. “There were a lot of reasons to really get excited about this game tonight and it showed in our play.”

“We talked about it being a measuring stick to see where we are,” Stempniak said. “That’s one of the best teams in hockey over the last six, seven, eight years, and we played them well.”

Saturday night Alex Ovechkin and Braden Holtby’s Washington Capitals come to town. One day of rest before Julien gets his charges excited about that matchup too see where they are with the elite of the East.